April 24, 2007
Resurrection pilgrimage
Dear Family and Friends:
Easter 2007 in the Benton United Presbyterian Church, Benton,
Pennsylvania.
Many of us who are retired or retiring often take pilgrimages
into our past, visiting communities where we grew up, and often
where we began our experience as followers of Christ. Our friends
of Benton, Pennsylvania, David Kline and Kay Kocher Kline, structured
such a journey for us. We celebrated last Easter in the Benton
United Presbyterian Church. The most important celebration for
Christians is Resurrection Sunday, (as we call it is Spain and
Latin America), or Easter, as we call it in the United States,
and the twelve worshipers who were present that Sunday reminded
us of the first Christian communities. The pastor, a retired minister
who has trained chaplains at Geisinger Medical Center, Reverend
Lumpkin, delighted us by leading the hymns with his autoharp.
What a joy to worship in the same church where Donna first became
a member in 1951. Edgar remembered the Benton church as the congregation
where Donna’s grandparents were members and where we worshiped
when we visited Donna’s home from Princeton Theological
Seminary, just a three-hour drive away (1961-1965).
Rev. Donna Laubach Moros and elder Eleanor Dildine Klementik,
remembering music and good times.
For Donna the visit was particularly joyful because she was able
to see many familiar faces, still young enough to recognize, and
to remember her roots. Harold Laubach, Donna’s father, had
been clerk of session in 1953, the 50th anniversary celebration
of that congregation. Luckily, Donna lived in Benton long enough,
close to her grandparent’s farm, the church, and a tap-dancing
school her mother Dorothy opened in their home in Benton, that
she was able to forge a deep and meaningful relationship to that
community. During the visit, we took our son and his family to
see the house where Donna had lived as a child, as well as the
church and other sites of the town.
Donna as a teenager at Church Camp. Picture given to her by
friend Kay Kocher Kline.
Many of Donna’s people skills came from having persons
like Eleanor Klementik help her in her developing music skills,
and from the experiences of Camp Micheaux with the youth group.
You can see a fan and a hymnal in Donna’s hands in a photo
from her youth. One can never know the mysteries of our God, and
Eleanor was thrilled that Donna had gone into the ministry!
Thank God for Presbyterian women, men, and children of all places
and all cultures. Thank God for holding us together. We are the
Easter people. We resurrect in many different and wonderful places,
and maintain and re-grow old roots in Christ Jesus, our Shalom.
We are local and national and international. We are all involved
in God’s mission to the world.
Donna and Edgar
The 2007 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 173 |
